Jumping-On: "Nailbiter" (Williamson & Henderson)

As you may have gathered from my “Axeman’s Jazz” review from last week, I’m as into serial killers as a sane man can be. Joshua Williamson’s and Mike Henderson’s “Nailbiter”, from Image Comics, operates on a simple, but intriguing premise: more serial killers have been born in Buckaroo, Oregon than in any other city in the world. When a policeman researching it disappears, it’s up to his friend to find him and uncover the mystery of the “Buckaroo Butchers”.

So I’m a little late in talking about this comic – I’ve read the first issue when it dropped, but waited until #2 share my thoughts. Written by Joshua Williamson and drawn by Mike Henderson, “Nailbiter” is off to an interesting start, and as a brand new ongoing series, it has a chance be something great.

The first issue opens with a flashback, showing the arrest of the 16th in the long line of killers from Buckaroo, Edward Charles Warren AKA, nicknamed “Nailbiter” due to targeting people who were biting their nails. He would then chew off his victims’ fingernails (and then fingers, until he reached bone) before killing them.

Fast forward three years… In a crappy apartment in San Antonio, Texas, we disgraced officer Nicholas Finch, who’s about to shoot himself in the head. His suicide attempt is interrupted by an old friend, Eliot Carroll, a police officer who went to Buckaroo to find out why the small town brought this many serial killers into the world in the last 50 years.

He
tells Finch that he solved it, and knows the secret of the Buckaroo Butchers,
but he needs Finch to come to Buckaroo and help him, as he’s the only man he
trusts.

When Finch arrives in the town, he finds out two things: 1) Buckaroo is a pretty damn weird place, and 2) his friend has gone missing and nobody knows what happened to him.

The man himself, the Nailbiter. Click to enlarge.

That
sounds pretty cool, right? It sounds like the kind of series I’m gonna be
following closely, and honestly, the first two issues are executed (no pun
intended) pretty damn well. From the comics and the interviews I’ve read
online, it really seems Williamson did his homework and draws from a number of
good sources for inspiration for the various Buckaroo killers. The town itself
has also been given extra care. The town residents are a specific bunch. Some
of them watch themselves and avoid doing any of the things that have caught the
serial killers’ attention in the past (like biting their fingernails and all…).
Some of them try to profit from the eerie fame the town has, the serial killer
fans tourism and all – there’s a guy with a creepy souvenir shop selling all
kinds of gruesome memorabilia related to the Buckaroo Butchers.

Finch meets one of the locals.

Finch
is helped by a local sheriff, Shannon Crane, and through the two we learn more
about the various murderers that grew up in the town. The titular killer, the
Nailbiter, is also present in Buckaroo. Due to the lack any strong evidence
that could pin any serious charges on him, he’s been released from prison some
time back, and now lives in his own home, with a patrol car parked outside,
keeping tabs on him.

Mike Henderson’s art isn’t really my favorite thing about the book, but somehow his style is a good fit to the creepy atmosphere. I wasn’t sure if I like it when I read #1, but by the time #2 came out, I was on board with it. The colors, by Adam Guzowski, also add a lot, giving the town and the gruesome scenes a proper grim vibe.

Killer deals at the Murder Store!

“Nailbiter” is a crime and mystery book, with some horror beats thrown in for good measure. I was relieved when I found out this will be an ongoing series, because there’s plenty of potential here, and a mini probably wouldn’t offer enough space to really make good use of the premise. Williamson and Henderson have something very good on their hands, and I’m glad that Image gave an original series like that the green light. Check it out!

Are you reading "Nailbiter"? Planning to? What are your thoughts on Image's new killer series? Sound off in the comments!